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Fernando Alonso/2010 Season
Spanish |team = Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro |car No. = 8 |helmet = |races = 19 |poles = 2 |Wins = 5 |podiums = 10 |fastest laps = 5 |points = 252 |WDC Standing = 2nd}}The 2010 Formula One season was Fernando's tenth season in Formula One and his first driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He finished second in the Driver's Championship with 252 points and 5 wins finishign runner up to Sebastian Vettel. Report After much speculation, on 30 September 2009, Alonso was confirmed to be replacing Kimi Räikkönen at the Ferrari team, partnering Felipe Massa, a move known as "the worst-kept secret in F1". His contract covers three seasons (2010–2012), with speculated options until the end of 2014. Though his contract is said to have been signed as early as July 2008, Alonso confirmed only having a Summer-2009 agreement with Ferrari for a 2011 start, which was later changed to 2010. Ferrari and Räikkönen, whom Alonso will replace, had agreed to end their contract one year early. Though it was reported that Alonso's contract was worth €25-million per season, Ferrari released a statement that cast doubts over the salary offered, stating that "the numbers talked about have absolutely nothing to do with reality." Ferrari also cast doubt on "the arrival of technicians" with Alonso. At the first race in Bahrain, Alonso qualified third behind team mate Massa and pole sitter Sebastian Vettel. At the start, Alonso got ahead of Massa to move up to second and later on in the race, leader Vettel had an engine problem and dropped to fourth and Alonso won the race, becoming the fifth man to win on his debut for Ferrari after Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956, Mario Andretti in 1971, Nigel Mansell in 1989, and Kimi Räikkönen in 2007. Team mate Massa came second taking a 1–2 for Ferrari and Alonso's former McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton came through to finish third. In the Australian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified third behind the two Red Bull cars of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. At the start, on a damp track, Alonso was tipped into a spin by eventual race winner Jenson Button, and rejoined last. Alonso charged back to fourth and then held off late race attacks from Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber to finish fourth, only two seconds behind teammate Felipe Massa. In China, Alonso qualified third again, behind Vettel and Webber. Alonso jumped the start, for which he was later given a drive-through penalty, which dropped him down to 15th, over a minute behind race leader Nico Rosberg. With the help of a safety car which bunched the field together, and due to a series of overtaking manoeuvres, Alonso finished fourth. During the race, one of his overtaking maneuvers was on team-mate Massa as the two entered the pit lane to change to intermediate tyres when the rain came. This aggressive overtaking, in which Massa had to put two wheels on the grass to avoid a collision, and then had to wait behind Alonso during Alonso's stop which cost him a few places, raised questions that all was not well between the Ferrari teammates. However, both drivers quickly quashed the speculation, saying that the overtaking did not affect the relationship between the drivers at all, and that they are as friendly as they were before. The first European round was in Spain where Alonso qualified fourth behind the Red Bulls and former McLaren team mate Hamilton. Alonso ran fourth until the final 15 laps of the race, when he first was elevated to third after Vettel suffered brake problems which forced him to go for an extra pit stop, and then gained another place when Hamilton's tyre failed on the penultimate lap. He finished second, thus getting his first podium after the win in Bahrain. In Monaco, Alonso crashed his car in practice and was unable to take part in qualifying. He started 24th and last but charged up to sixth. On the last lap, Michael Schumacher passed him under the safety car to take the place, but was then penalized for the overtaking, giving sixth back to Alonso. For the Canadian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified fourth and was promoted to third after Mark Webber's penalty for a gearbox change. He finished third after a racelong battle with the McLarens and Red Bulls, getting only his second podium after his win in Bahrain. In the next round in Valencia, Alonso secured fourth on the grid in qualifying. During the race, he was right on the gearbox of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren when the Safety Car was deployed following Mark Webber's somersaulting crash after rear-ending Heikki Kovalainen. After a brief hesitation, Hamilton drove past the Safety Car, while Alonso and Massa took up position behind it. This allowed the McLaren driver (and several other drivers) to secure a significant advantage, and following their pitstops, the Ferrari drivers found themselves at the tail end of the field. Alonso was heard over the team radio insisting that Ferrari take up the matter with race director Charlie Whiting. The FIA stewards did ultimately award Hamilton a drive-through penalty, but the significant delay between the offence and the verdict (due to a delay in securing aerial footage of Hamilton's pass on the Safety Car) and the relatively short length of the pitlane at Valencia, meant that Hamilton was able to re-emerge from the pits without losing position. Finishing the race in eighth position, Alonso criticised the FIA for 'manipulating' the race result, a statement which he later moderated. Ferrari were equally critical of the FIA's stewarding of the event. At the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Alonso lined up third on the grid. However, clutch problems at the start caused his Ferrari to bog down and Alonso had dropped several positions by the time the pack reached the first corner. Alonso attempted to stage a fightback, and while attempting to pass Robert Kubica's Renault down the outside at Vale, was forced on to the grass as Kubica closed the door on him. Alonso rejoined the track ahead of Kubica, and maintained track position ahead of the Pole. Alonso was heard on the radio explaining to his team that Kubica had forced him on to the grass, while Kubica informed his team that Alonso had illegally passed him by cutting the chicane. After some delay, the stewards awarded Alonso a drive-through penalty for failing to yield the position back to Kubica. The situation was further exacerbated by the untimely deployment of the Safety Car owing to debris on the track, which bunched the field up, and caused Alonso to drop to the tail of the pack once he served his penalty. Alonso crossed the line in fourteenth place, a minute behind race winner Mark Webber, setting the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, having changed tyres after a puncture. More accusations followed after the race, with Ferrari alleging that the FIA had not responded to their requests for clarification, and the FIA insisting that they had requested Ferrari to give back Alonso's position to Kubica and thus obviate the need for an inquiry. For the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Alonso missed pole position by 0.002 seconds to Vettel, with Massa qualifying third. In the race, Vettel made a poor start and attempted to compensate by squeezing Alonso towards the pitwall. Seizing this opportunity, Massa overtook both of them, and entered the first corner with Alonso and Vettel in second and third places. Alonso then controversially overtook Massa and they crossed the line in that order to give Ferrari a 1–2 finish. For the Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso qualified in third place, behind the two Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber. As the lights went out, he passed Webber into second place, and then drew alongside Vettel on the outside going into the first corner. Alonso lost out to Webber at the pitstops, but got ahead of Vettel when the latter was given a drive-through penalty. He was able to hold off Vettel and finish the race in second place. After a promising start in Belgium, qualifying yielded a disappointing grid position of tenth place. When the race started, things went from bad to worse as Alonso was torpedoed from behind by Rubens Barrichello's sliding Williams. Alonso recovered to eighth before spinning out of the race in the closing stages. At the Italian Grand Prix, Alonso claimed pole position ahead of Jenson Button, but trailed Button by the first corner. Alonso and Massa pursued the McLaren until it pitted. Alonso pitted the next lap, with a quicker stop allowing Alonso to return to the track wheel to wheel with Button, and narrowly edged him out into the first corner. He pulled clear to claim his 24th career win, his third of the season, and Ferrari's first win at Monza since 2006. As an added bonus, Alonso also claimed the fastest lap of the race, resulting in a hat-trick (pole, win and fastest lap). At the Singapore Grand Prix, Alonso took pole position ahead of Vettel, the McLarens of Hamilton and Button and the second Red Bull of championship leader Webber. When the lights went out, Alonso made a solid start and led Vettel into the first corner. Alonso soaked up pressure from Vettel for the entire race and crossed the line less than 0.3 seconds ahead of the Red Bull. Once more, Alonso set the fastest lap of the race in the closing stages. In Japan, Alonso finished third, behind Vettel and Webber, then won in Korea after Vettel retired with engine failure. He also scored his fifth fastest lap of the year, enough to give him the 2010 DHL Fastest Lap Award after a countback with Lewis Hamilton. In Abu Dhabi, Alonso entered the event with an eight-point lead, and qualified third. At the start of the race he lost a place to Button and then a strategic error by his team meant that Alonso spent the rest of the race stuck behind Vitaly Petrov, and lost out on world championship honours to Sebastian Vettel. Season gallery Ferrari Bahrain 2010.jpg|At the Bahrain GP Alonsocrashmonaco2010practice.jpg|Crash at the Monaco GP Alonso Canadian GP 2010.jpg|At the Canadian GP Alonso hockenheim 2010.jpg|At the German GP Complete Season Results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance. Category:2010 Drivers Category:Driver Reports Category:Ferrari Drivers